James Hoban
James Hoban 1762-1831, one of the most influential architects of early America, was born at Desart, near Callan, Co. Kilkenny. Having studied architecture in Dublin, he emigrated to the United States and extablished himself as an architect in Philadelphia. In 1792 he moved to the district of Colombia and submitted plans in a competition for the design of the Presidential Residence. Hoban's design was successful and from 1793 to 1800 he oversaw the work of construction. During the war of 1812 the building was attacked and burned leaving only the charred shell standing. He supervised the rebuilding work which was completed in 1817. Hoban's design of the Presidential Residence is said to have been modelled on Leinster House, in Dublin, originally the home of the Duke of Leinster, and now the seat of the Irish Parliament - AN Dail.
James Hoban went on to become one of the new federal city's most respected citizens - he took the city's first census, became a captain of the Washington artillery, and served as a lifetime member of the City Council. He designed and built a number of other federal buildings, leaving a legacy that was "never approached in historical importance by any other single architect in the development of the city".
On the 29th September 1981 James Hoban was honoured by bothe the Irish and American postal services when they jointly issued a commemorative postage stamp. this joint stamp issue with an administration outside Europe was unique in the history of the Irish Post Office. The issue was in a single 18p denomination in Ireland and an 18c denomination in the United States. Both stamps featured the same design, on which artists from the two administrations worked together.
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